Forever Dark? How Dark Personality Traits Change With Age
A new study investigated how Dark Triad levels change over the lifespan.
Posted October 2, 2025 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader
Our personality is not set in stone but can change quite significantly over the course of a lifetime. During different phases of life like childhood , adolescence , adulthood, and older age, many factors such as social relationships with parents and friends, school- or job-related influences, economic factors, health status, and more can influence the development of our personality. Importantly, psychological research on personality has strongly focused on personality traits like the well-known big five ( neuroticism , extraversion , openness , conscientiousness , and agreeableness ). However, the development of darker personality traits like the so-called Dark Triad ( psychopathy , narcissism, and Machiavellianism ) has not been investigated much in psychological research.
A new study about Dark Triad levels across the whole lifespan
Therefore, a new study entitled “Could the Younger Be Darker? A Cross-Sectional Study on the Dark Triad Levels Across the Lifespan” now focused specifically on how the levels of the Dark Triad change over the course of life ( Bonfá-Araujo and co-workers, 2025 ). The research team, led by scientist Bruno Bonfá-Araujo, used an online questionnaire to collect data from more than 1,000 Brazilian volunteers aged between 18 and 81 years. All volunteers filled out the Short Dark Triad questionnaire, containing 27 questions to determine the individual levels of the three personality aspects of the Dark Triad:
To investigate age effects on the development of these three dark personality traits, the scientists created five different age groups:
What did the scientists find out?
The results of the study showed that some dark personality traits change with age. Overall, narcissism did not show any age-related effects. For Machiavellianism and psychopathy, however, there were significant age effects. For both dark traits , the youngest group had the highest values, while the oldest group had the lowest values. This effect was stronger for Machiavellianism than for psychopathy.
Narcissism was very stable across age groups and does not seem to change much over the course of a lifetime. So if someone is highly narcissistic , chances are they will stay like that for the rest of their life. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism, in contrast, mellow with age, so older people show less of these traits. Thus, the question from the study title “Could younger be darker?” can be answered with a “yes” for these two aspects of the Dark Triad.
Bonfá-Araujo, B., Magarotto Machado, G., Caurin, N. B., & Lima-Costa, A. R. (2025). Could the Younger Be Darker? A Cross-Sectional Study on the Dark Triad Levels Across the Lifespan. Deviant Behavior , 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2025.2564360
Share this post Facebook Bluesky Linkedin Email
There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.
By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
Sebastian Ocklenburg, Ph.D., is a professor for research methods in psychology at the Department of Psychology at MSH Medical School in Hamburg, Germany. His research focuses on left-handedness and brain asymmetries.
Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.
This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.